IN OCTOBER 2025, a group of Theravada Buddhist monks in Texas began a walk for peace across the United States. Led by the Vietnamese-American monk Pannakara, and accompanied by a former street dog from India named Aloka, they gained global attention on social media over their journey of nearly four months. In Sri Lanka, the monks and Aloka became popular sensations. It was perhaps the first time many a Sri Lankan Buddhist had seen a group of monks following the Buddha’s code to the letter: living a simple life, with no possessions beyond what they could carry, and walking long distances, often barefoot and through inclement weather, just as he is believed to have done.
Sri Lanka’s ruling National People’s Power (NPP) government – despite its leftist credentials, as adept at using Buddhism for its purposes as any of its predecessors – welcomed the monks and Aloka to stage another peace walk in the country. Over a week this April, they went from the sacred Sri Maha Bodhi tree in the ancient capital of Anuradhapura to the modern capital of Colombo, mobbed by the public along the way.
Almost simultaneously, a drama of quite another sort was unfolding beyond the public eye. A 14-year-old runaway from Anuradhapura was apprehended by the police with her “lover” in a lodging house in Nittambuwa, some 150 kilometres away. What would have been a tragic but standard case of statutory rape assumed a very different complexion when the girl, from a poor family and a broken home, told the police that she was raped at the age of 11 by the monk Pallegama Hemarathana – the chief custodian of the Atamasthana, eight of the holiest Buddhist sites in Sri Lanka, including the Sri Maha Bodhi complex. She alleged that she had been “purchased” from her mother for LKR 100,000 – around USD 300 today – and had since visited Hemarathana every three days.
The police sat on the case, possibly on government orders, even as Hemarathana presided over the commencement of the peace walk. The opposition and the mainstream media also remained silent. Eventually, on 22 April, the independent journalist Bimal Ruhunage lodged a complaint with the National Child Protection Authority (NCPA). It began to act on the complaint, and more details gradually emerged.
The public reaction went from incredulity to shock and anger. The authorities, even if reluctant, were spurred to act. Hemarathana was produced before a court in Anuradhapura, accused of statutory rape. The monk denied any wrongdoing and received bail with police blessings. After weeks of silence, at the end of May, the chief prelates of the Siam Nikaya – the country’s most important Buddhist order – removed Hemarathana from all his posts pending the case’s conclusion.